Swiss deeptech startup Chiral has secured $12 million in seed funding to commercialize its robotic platform designed for wafer-scale integration of nanomaterials such as carbon nanotubes and graphene. The round was led by Crane Venture Partners, with participation from Quantonation, HCVC, and Founderful, as well as public funding from Innosuisse.
With this new fundinf, Chiral plans to enhance its automation capabilities, increase throughput, and demonstrate system reliability across real-world industrial environments. The goal is to enable companies to incorporate nanomaterials as seamlessly as they currently incorporate silicon.
Founded in 2023 as a spin-off from ETH Zurich and Empa, Chiral blends deep scientific expertise with practical engineering execution. Its platform is a robotic system engineered for the selective, contamination-free placement of nanomaterials onto silicon wafers. It brings together automation, high-precision mechanics, and intelligent process control to deliver a step-change in how these materials can be handled. Unlike traditional deposition or transfer methods, Chiral’s approach allows targeted placement rather than blanket application.
In just two years since its pre-seed round, the team has developed its first commercial equipment system and helped early customers accelerate the development of nanomaterial-based devices.
“Nanomaterials have shown outstanding performance in research for years, but without scalable and controllable manufacturing, their impact remains limited,” said Seoho Jung, CEO at Chiral. “Chiral has the necessary capabilities that can turn material-level breakthroughs into an industrial reality. Our customers will soon announce results that demonstrate how Chiral’s technology has advanced their device performance. In parallel, we are moving from development into deployment, with our first commercial systems being installed at customer sites this year.”
“The next foundational shift in computing won’t come from materials alone; it will come from making those materials work for real systems and real customers. Chiral brings that level of engineering discipline to nanomaterials, and that’s why we believe they have an important role to play in what comes after silicon,” said Krishna Visvanathan, Co-founder and Partner at Crane Venture Partners.
